Being a blues forum I would imagine tone is huge here, Blues tone on guitar has possibly the largest tonal pallette of all the blues instruments. That's my attraction or at least a big part of it.

Right now I'm very happy with my tone, here's my tone chain;

G&L ASAT Special > Monster cable > Fender SuperSonic 60

For me this is an absolute pedal killer rig.I have the Zendrive2, and it gives the clean channel some great Texas BBQ. Texas Flood pretty much gets nailed. But the "burn" channel on the amp with its cascading gain structure can easily cop that Texas vibe. No big need for the Zendrive except for a second cool od tone.Grab amp and go is my prefered lazy solution. Lol.The amp has a pro fx loop that I can stick my HoF and Red Witch PentaVocal Tremolo.But my quick grab and go rig would just have a patch chord connecting the fx loop providing the best type of boost, pure amp boost. Just the ticket to cut above crunchy comping volume.

The amp has ten tubes, it has a Vibrolux circuit, a Bassman circuit, and then the burn channel which seems to be it's own thing. Sounds like the Bassman overdriven but the SuperSonic 22 sounds very much the same as well as the SS100, the burn channel is similar cascading gain design.

My ASAT Special has been hands down the most toneful guitar. I damn near gave my '59 335 ri.I feel this guitar is Leos pinnicle of pup design. Jusy my opinion, it has more output than the Tele and the Strat. I prefer the mass this provides for the fundamental tone. It's big.I don't think this is the best choice for stylistically typical Teles roles, the Asat Special sounds closer to a P90 type PRS but the ASAT has a "smokey" quality that stands alone imo.I also have a smaller 335ish thing that has Antiquity pups and all wood look. But for blues it's the ASAT no brainer.All my friends have multple guitars they play and they sound different, I'm happy having the same ax and really defining my sound.

ASAT = After Strat After Tele I like to thinkBut it really means Anti Satelite Anti Tank

Welcome aboard Clifford! I'm a harper/keyboardist, not a guitar player, but a good friend of mine played an ASAT for quite a while, and I loved that axe. I use a delay with my harp, but having said that, I've always believed that tone improves with experience-- regardless of gear. Tone is also a very subjective thing. I have a gear chain that I like the best personally (mic,box,amp), but I've discovered that I probably go over just as well with the crowd, playing thru vocal mics eq'd for voice: if you play well and connect, tone is more appreciated by the other musicians in the crowd.

Tone is so hard to describe. A sound clip is worth a thousand words (maybe more).

When I played live, I tended to keep things pretty simple. SG, cord, maybe a compression pedal (if so, another cord) and bassman. (Later an early Fender 75). If I go back to gigging, I'm not sure that much will change.

Welcome aboard. Love to hear what it sounds like. Post a clip when you get a chance.

Clifford thats great that you have found your "tone". Myself, I don't know if I have one tone, or timbre, or shape of a sound that distinguishes me and one that I can call my own. I play Les Pauls and Flying V's, all with p90's and through a variety of amps from Marshall to boutique tweed circuits to mini amps like a Pignose 7-100. Lately my favorite is a Smokey Amp. It sure sounds swampy dirty cranked up with a LP Jr. and a cheap coiled cord. But as I mentioned, there are so many different sound shapes I can dig on from dirty low down fuzz to super Fendery clean that there isn't any one "tone" that pushes my buttons. Its great that you can point to that amp or that guitar and feel confident that is your sound, your tone, and your shape. Myself I just want a raw unpolished sound to play with. No matter what guitar or amp I feel I can make good no matter the situation.

I know what you mean by unpolished. That's in your fingers not the gear.Sometimes it takes a long time to sound unpolished when you can actually play very polished. Jimmy Vaughan comes to mind, Jeff Beck as well, hecan play both ways. SRV rarely sounded unpolished; it was the only way their mother could tell them apart lol.

Anyway there are players that sound unpolished because they really are not very good, that can be rough,, but those that use it like a paintbrush and really put some character in the tone, now that's cool.

Hi man.This an interesting post.I've been playing 50 years and I hope I don't sound polished.On a Sat.afternoon you can go to GC and see guys buying their first real guitars.MIM Strats,PRS ce,s whatever.Ehey got what it takes to play in front of other people.they're probably not very good yet but I admire em.I guess I really haven't given it much thought till now.Good juck

When I played live, I tended to keep things pretty simple. SG, cord, maybe a compression pedal (if so, another cord) and bassman. (Later an early Fender 75). If I go back to gigging, I'm not sure that much will change."]

Hey Jake that's pretty much what I used when I was a young blues buck. Back in the 60s in NZ pedals were mainly used by 4 yr old boys in their toy cars so my rig was SG Les Paul Custom (the 3 p/up one), lead, Jansen 75w all tube amp with 2 2x12 speaker cabs and no pedals at all, though wah wahs were making their presence felt. Turned up loud it was a powerhouse "woman tone" sound and feedback could create those long sustain notes. It's claimed a fair hunk of my hearing now that I'm getting on but it was fun at the time. Btw Jansen made their amps as close to Fenders in appearance as possible and were renowned for using more speakers than were really needed. In the end I got sick of carting my full rig, my guitar, me and another guy and his guitar in a Morris Mini (we unbolted all the seats except the driver's seat) and traded the Jansen Bassman 75 for a used Vox AC 30. Peace.

The 75 had, oddly enough for a guitar amo, One 15" speaker. Circuit wise, it was like a Mesa boogie mark I, the "lead" setting put two pre amp stages in series, which could give you anything from mild overdrive to howling distortion. It lso had a low power setting, which had, I thought, a warmer tone. It might have been a Class A power amp stage configuration.

Like hearing aboutbstuffing th gear into the mini. I recall having to take the door off the hinges to fit the PA cabs in the back seat of our other guitarist's Buick.

I have a good friend who I've played with intermittently over the years who has always had great tone, but he's not a good guitarist. His fingers have always produced good sounds, and he's got good taste in guitars...335s, Teles, Strats, G&Ls, Epis, etc. He just doesn't work at the craft very hard.. it's frustrating at times.

I've got a MarkII c plus I use with an old Marshall 60,s A cab.I'd swear it was a different amp every time I play it.I think I use Mesa,s because of their customer service.Every time I've had to call over the years,I not only got my question answered,it was by the guy who built the amp.They hold up good on the road,too,for as complicated as they are.

panhead201 wrote:I've got a MarkII c plus I use with an old Marshall 60,s A cab.I'd swear it was a different amp every time I play it.I think I use Mesa,s because of their customer service.Every time I've had to call over the years,I not only got my question answered,it was by the guy who built the amp.They hold up good on the road,too,for as complicated as they are.

That's a great amp, arguably the best Mesa. I owned the Mk 1 before I knew how to use it =/. I put an EV12L in the combo and wondered why it sounded so anemic at the jam. Lol. That was a terible speaker choice, I knew nothing, sold it.

that's what I thought till I traded a Nomad 45 combo,w/4-10,s that I was never happy with,my fault,not the amps.The Nomad was LOUD.I've got a Soldano SLO 100 and this little 45 walked all over it.A great noisy club amp.All gain.A guy I know wanted to trade me a Blue Angel for it.I'd heard about em,never played one.It's a dual rec,but it's got 6 knobs on it.The most incredible cleans I've ever heard.It's got progressive ;linkage,your power starts at 16 watts to EL,s up to 38 watts.I put Alnico golds in it.4-10,s.I can't say enough about this amp.And it's quiet.No dual rec sizzle,hum..If you ever get a chance to try one..And my wife loves it.She covers it all the time.It's dark blue leather,a milk and coffee wicker grille.It's un perfect shape.My Nomad had been on the club circuit.Bumps and bruises.I guess my buddy really wanted the Nomad.

Back when I played alot of electric I did love me some G&Ls. I owned a Broadcaster, an 1986 ASAT and a 1st body style Interceptor (which was my favorite G&L). I plugged into a 1955 Fender Twin.

To play the Devil's Advocate a bit, this whole tonal palette thing is lost on me. I have been playing 50+ years and I guess just ain't a Tone Hound. Pretty much most guitars will work for me as long as it has a beefy neck and wide nut (I only play with my fingers). Not real picky about amps either. But I am glad there are a whole lot of players out there pursuing technique and tone as diligently as they possibly can because it leaves this whole other area open to folks like me.